FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution are determined that last weekend's 2-0 loss in Montreal will be merely a speed bump rather than a major obstruction. With their seven-game unbeaten streak snapped, the Revolution feel the defeat is a wake-up call reminding them of the attention to detail that was necessary to achieve that mark.
“We were playing well for a month and a half, and to go somewhere and kind of get beat up is good,” defender AJ Soares told MLSsoccer.com on Tuesday. “It’ll wake everybody up again and remind everyone that we need to do all the dirty parts of the game if we want to be successful moving forward.”
Understandably, New England players are eager to move on from the defeat. and enter the break from league action during the World Cup on a more positive note.
“We know exactly what we did wrong, it’s very simple,” Jose Goncalves told MLSsoccer.com. “You have to move on to the next game.”
- Find more Revs news and notes at RevolutionSoccer.net
The next game brings the defending Supporters' Shield champion New York Red Bulls to Gillette Stadium on Sunday (5 pm ET, MLS LIVE). Even though New York will be without the services of numerous players due to injury, the World Cup and an aversion to artificial turf, the Revs are not taking things lightly as they try to stay ahead of D.C. United in the Eastern Conference standings.
“New York is a very good team,” said Goncalves. “We cannot think that because they have a couple of guys going to the World Cup that it’s going to be easy. They won the Eastern Conference last year. This year we’re on top, and of course we want to stay on the top.”
The Revolution have been streaky this season — a 1-3-1 start to the season was followed by that 6-0-1 run — and know that only consistent results can prove they belong in the conversation as one of the league's best. They have found consistency at home, allowing just one goal in five home contests while going 4-0-1, and expect that to continue on Sunday.
“Three points are on the table," Soares said. "We’re at home, and we don’t want to drop any points at home, ever.”
